Happy Monday, Razzball faithful!
There were many starting pitchers that fantasy managers were “draggin’’” throughout the draft season. (High Fives are optional for that one).
With an ADP of 48, Chris Sale was certainly dragged in early Spring. Shota Imanaga at an ADP of 71? Yep. Bigtime drag.
Sure there were more than a few whiffs when we look back at the average draft positions from our starting pitcher pool.
But it feels like a guy like Tanner Houck was a bit of an afterthought, even when it came to looking at pitchers from his own team!
Sleeper articles? Well, we certainly saw a lot of words about Kutter Crawford. There was some buzz about Garrett Whitlock. The ‘upside’ of Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello? Sure, we heard a lot about those guys too.
Hell, there were even some who were touting Lucas Gioilito as the comeback pitcher of the year before he not so elegantly bowed out after his elbow did the same in March.
But Tanner Houck? He was an afterthought.
Nestled in between Gavin Stone and Ricky Tiedemann as the 155th pitcher off the board, (NFBC), Houck wasn’t exactly a bottom-of-the-barrel scrape. But when we look at an overall selection of 382, we’re looking at a 38th-round pick or a reserve player in your auction draft.
We heard things like, “He’ll be good, but he might end up in the bullpen”, or “Ya, I guess he’s ok, but I prefer these 8 arms instead.”
So the question is, how did Houck end up as the fire-breathing dragon that he is today?
Well, first off, with a fastball velocity of 93.4 MPH, it might be a bit of a stretch to label Houck as a “fire-breathing dragon”. (But come on, I’m trying to build a theme here).
Houck To Train Your Dragon: This Red Sox pitcher is anything but ‘toothless’.
But there is one thing that stands out among his statistics from 2024 that is a good indicator of why he’s been this successful. The home runs allowed.
I can hear the Houck haters now, “Oh Yeah?! He doubled his total HR in his last start! He sucks!”
Well, yes, he did double his HR-allowed total after his last start. And now, in 85 innings pitched, Tanner Houck has officially given up two home runs. Yep, you read that right.
Tanner Houck has allowed just 2 HR in 85 IP. That’s what the kids would call, “Fire!”
Some other numbers pop out a bit. His 8.89 K/9 is a tad higher than his annual averages. The 1.5 BB/9 is much lower than what he’s shown throughout his career, too. But that 0.21 HR/9 is downright eye-popping.
The 1.91 ERA is beautiful. And the 0.918 WHIP is just as exciting.
His xFIP is 2.80, so, sure there’s some regression looming. But as far as effective starting pitchers are concerned you can’t get much better than Tanner Houck.
Will Houck Sail Through That Cy Young Flight?
With a 6-5 win-loss record the even more fitting question is, is Houck winning the 2024 AL Cy Young award?
Even with Jacob deGrom’s 2018 Cy Young award being the lowest win total by an SP in league history (10), I still don’t have faith that voters would look past Houck’s record if he won 12-14 games this year. And let’s not ignore the fact that Houck isn’t striking guys out like deGrom did in those peak years from 2018-2019.
But I think Red Sox fans would agree that the experiment of training a dragon-like Houck to attack first and ask questions later has yielded some fangtastic results. If he can keep this up, Houck may just tip the scales in the Cy Young voting when all is said and done and snatch the top pitcher award from the claws of someone with flashier numbers.
Where does he show up on our Top 100 Starting Pitchers page, though?
Well, before we get to the list, I need to plug a couple of things for y’all first. If you want to check the spot I usually have open when flipping through my information on Sunday afternoons, you’re looking for that Player Rater leaderboard. This is always a great resource to use if you’re doing research. A bit of this, and a splash of that goes into the prep work for our weekly Top 100 Starting Pitchers list.
Of course, if you’re one of those doubting-your-own-gut-instinct fantasy managers, or just want to use a great resource that will point you in the right direction every week, The Streamonator is here to help you answer those burning questions.
If you haven’t signed up for it, this should be your go-to reference for the entire season. It will save you a lot of time researching and often includes those “Oh, I never thought about that” solutions. The Razzball subscriptions are well worth the price of admission. If you’re serious about improving throughout the season, check the link, yo.
| RANK
(LAST WEEK) |
Name | TEAM | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corbin Burnes | Orioles | Back-to-back 7 IP 5 K outings with just 1 ER total (solo HR). |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | Keeping pace with Burnes. We’re at the point where this is more 1A and 1B than a 1st and 2nd split. |
| 3 (4) | Tarik Skubal | Tigers | A bit of a hiccup on May 22 (5 IP 4 ER), but otherwise top-notch, elite production. The 11K game last week is enough to overtake Glasnow…for now. |
| 4 (3) | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | We’re picking nits here, to a degree, but winless in 5 starts since running off 3 in a row April 21-May 4. |
| 5 (7) | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | Moves up with back-to-back gems, but also because the guys in front of him over the last few weeks posted ugly starts. |
| 6 (9) | Kevin Gausman | Blue Jays | Still a Top 10 arm. More below. |
| 7 (10) | Shoto Imanaga | Cubs | 4.1 IP and 5 runs but only one was earned. Least harmful start of the #9 through 11 guys. |
| 8 (12) | Grayson Rodriguez | Orioles | He’s not flawless by any means, but Grayson moves above the usuals with a nice outing last week (albeit at Toronto). Great game in Tampa yesterday. |
| 9 (6) | Luis Castillo | Mariners | Lit up at KC for 5 ER, but the first time he’s given up more than 2 earned in 10 starts. |
| 10 (8) | Pablo Lopez | Twins | 7 ER, 6 BB, 1 OMFG. More below. |
| 11 (5) | Freddy Peralta | Brewers | Back to back ouchies and his velocity is down. He claims it was him dialing it back to focus on control but I wouldn’t argue if you pulled out that “I don’t believe you” gif from Anchorman here. |
| 12 (11) | Ranger Suarez | Phillies | First, the Ranger fans have to watch their NHL team get bounced from the playoffs, and now they have to see Suarez still on the fringes of the Top 10? With a 10-1 record, he’s the next one up if any of our guys above him struggle over the upcoming weeks. |
| 13 | Tanner Houck | Red Sox | See the lede. |
| 14 (15) | Max Fried | Braves | 7 IP, 2 ER. ERA at 2.93. Fried Sox doesn’t sound very appealing, but Max cooked up 13 (Ks) at Fenway last week. |
| 15 (17) | George Kirby | Mariners | Two encouraging starts after a couple of 5 ER outings. 17 Ks total in those GS gives him a bit of a boost. |
| 16 | Chris Sale | Braves | Sale was a hard-luck loser in a 2-1 game at WSH, but the 10 strikeouts keep his K/9 up. |
| 17 (20) | Aaron Nola | Phillies | Gradually working his way back up towards the Top 10. 7 IP 2 H 0 ER 0 BB 5 K. Hasn’t given up more than 2 ER in a start in a month (May 8). Are we going up again? I guess so. |
| 18 | Cole Ragans | Royals | 89 Ks in 73 IP qualifies as a win (so far) for those who touted him as a preseason sleeper. |
| 19 | Dylan Cease | Padres | The same story as it is with Ragans (93 Ks in 77 IP). What really puzzles me is the 0.931 WHIP. A guy who I thought walked a lot is currently posting a 2.57 BB/9 (the best of his career). |
| 20 (14) | Seth Lugo | Royals | He could (or maybe should) slide even more. The next 5-10 names are ones I would pick in a ‘would you rather’ ROS game. More below. |
| 21 | Jared Jones | Pirates | A nice 6-inning 3-hit shutout against LA. Ya, but it was against the Angels, right? NOPE! |
| 22 | Logan Gilbert | Mariners | Hasn’t walked more than one batter in his last 4 starts, so the command is still there. He could move back up if he strings a few more good starts together. |
| 23 (27) | Luis Gil | Yankees | This could all blow up in a steaming pile of flaming fecal matter on our front doorstep after the LAD start tonight, (last night when you read this), but Gil has been unreal. More below. |
| 24 | Garrett Crochet | White Sox | Another great start, this time vs BOS. Double-digit strikeouts (10), and he breaks the century mark in just 75.2 IP. (103 Ks) |
| 25 (47) | Jack Flaherty | Tigers | 5 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4Ks, but left with a sore back. More below. |
| 26 | Logan Webb | Giants | I mean, he’s not terrible…but the K/9 isn’t eye-popping, and the record is (literally) average. |
| 27 (25) | Jose Berrios | Blue Jays | Another solid start has him holding here this week. I said last week that he’s quietly been one of the Jays’ best arms. |
| 28 (30) | Paul Skenes | Pirates | I’ll admit that this move-up is based on the smile he gave right after he served up an Ohtani dinger. But let’s not ignore that this is a 22-year-old rookie who held the behemoth of a LAD lineup to just 3 ER. He struck out 8. |
| 29 (26) | Justin Verlander | Astros | Verlander did give up 3 HR to STL last week, so the mortality is showing. Still a Top 30 guy, though. |
| 30 (51) | Carlos Rodon | Yankees | His record is at 8-2. More below. |
| 31 (28) | Joe Ryan | Twins | A good bounceback from his last start keeps him holding here for now. |
| 32 (31) | Mitch Keller | Pirates | Everyone is fawning over Jared Jones and Paul Skenes, but Mitch Keller has been a stud. 6 consecutive wins and he’s allowed 2 ER only once since April 30th. |
| 33 (39) | Bryan Woo | Mariners | 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.07. Sure there’s a caveat about IP and his pitch count each game, but all is good in Woo-ville. He was our lede two weeks ago. |
| 34 (32) | Sonny Gray | Cardinals | Sort of a hold here, but his most recent two starts have been less than impressive. And he’s only pitched 7 innings once out of his 10 starts. |
| 35 (34) | Nick Lodolo | Reds | Injury concerns are slowly disappearing as he works deeper into games. Back to back 6 inning outings wth 99 pitches in the last one. |
| 36 (33) | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | Supposed to throw a bullpen this week. Eligible for return June 15, but not certain yet. |
| 37 (36) | Bobby Miller | Dodgers | Threw his third rehab start Saturday night. Was touching 97-98 MPH on his fastball. There’s been no official announcement yet, but he should be back soon. |
| 38 (43) | Hunter Greene | Reds | 5 straight games with more than 100 pitches. More below. |
| 39 (42) | Kyle Bradish | Orioles | Must have studied carefully after getting blown up by TB on June 1st. 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9Ks against the Rays June 8th. |
| 40 (35) | Bryce Miller | Mariners | True story – I turned on the SEA game just as I was looking him up and he was doing an interview. “I’ve never worn a Speedo, so I don’t know if I like the uniforms”. Um…ok. Followed up a great start with a disaster last week. |
| 41 (29) | Jesus Luzardo | Marlins | 4.1 IP, 9 ER? More below. |
| 42 (41) | Javier Assad | Cubs | Blasted for 5 ER at CIN last week, but still respectable ratios and strikeout totals. |
| 43 (56) | Nick Pivetta | Red Sox | 7 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.40. More below. |
| 44 (45) | Zach Eflin | Rays | 4 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 4.14. I hate that this guy is my “ace” in one league. I bet you can guess (within one position) what place I’m in in that 10-teamer. The smoke and mirrors from last year are more like greasy windows this season. |
| 45 (44) | Ronel Blanco | Astros | Another 4 ER outing last week. 5 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks. Someone greased the ledge he’s hanging from. If only he had something to make sure his hands didn’t slip… |
| 46 (38) | Brady Singer | Royals | Similar to Buehler’s note below. Just 3.2 IP, 9 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 Ks. |
| 47 (46) | Reynaldo Lopez | Braves | Reynaldo Lopez, 4 kids, and I gotta take all the bad – To ShowBiz? If you uncovered him early on, you’re a pretty successful gold digger. Ratios are solid. Another good outing last week. |
| 48 (37) | Walker Buehler | Dodgers | Three games with 3 ER allowed. Lifted after 3 IPs at PIT last week. 3 Ks. |
| 49 (54) | Gavin Stone | Dodgers | We should probably move him even higher, but I ran out of spots to sub him in. (Thank goodness for the collapse of Blake Snell). |
| 50 (49) | Framber Valdez | Astros | Back-to-back solid starts with just 2 ER total. He’ll move back up soon…and inevitably disappoint us again. |
| 51 (50) | Michael King | Padres | 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 Ks and the Win? Go off, King. |
| 52 (67) | Yusei Kikuchi | Blue Jays | I said last week that it was too far of a drop, but you know how it goes. “Yusei goodbye, and I say hello”. Right back up to his spot at 51 from two weeks ago. |
| 53 (57) | Ryan Pepiot | Rays | 6 IP, 6H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8Ks. Looking good since the return from injury. Building stamina up. |
| 54 (53) | MacKenzie Gore | Nationals | So much for believing he needed to move out of his cozy 64 spot. 4.1 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 3.57. One more stinker and he’ll drop back down. |
| 55 (48) | Blake Snell | Giants | The MRI of his groin showed a minor (snicker) strain. Sent to the IL with NewDadItis. The cure? Get some sleep. |
| 56 (58) | Shane Baz | Rays | Struck out 10 in 5 IP at Durham on Saturday. Insert ‘eyes’ emoji! |
| 57 (59) | Tanner Bibee | Guardians | 5 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks, ERA 3.73. A bit of Goldilocks with the hot and cold here, but hold for now. |
| 58 (40) | Bailey Ober | Twins | The sting of an earned run machine is much more painful when you roster it in an AL only league. Hey now, don’t dream because it seems like it’s Ober. |
| 59 (79) | Nathan Eovaldi | Rangers | 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 Ks, ERA at 2.70, then another gem yesterday afternoon (7 IP, 2 ER, 5 Ks). Someone looks like he’s healthy and ready to give us some quality innings. Will move up again if his start this week at SEA is a good one. |
| 60 | Joe Musgrove | Padres | Bone spurs and a bone bruise in his elbow. May not be back until after the All-Star break. |
| 61 (63) | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | Rehabbed at AA yesterday. Will need at least one more before they decide on an activation date. |
| 62 | Christopher Sanchez | Phillies | 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 Ks, ERA at 2.71. Still going strong, but be careful with the next one at BOS. |
| 63 (84) | Ben Lively | Guardians | 5 shutout innings. Only had one strikeout, but hasn’t given up more than 2 ER in over a month. Had him lower than here, but he’s 26th SP on the Player Rater so I moved him up more. |
| 64 (52) | Brayan Bello | Red Sox | If giving up Earned Runs was like ingesting Fenway Franks, we could call him Brayan Chestnut. |
| 65 (80) | Mitchell Parker | Nationals | So I warned you about the ATL start last week and he went out and threw 7 innings with 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, and 2 Ks. If you started him in ATL, you’re either (a) crazy, (b) lying, or (c) well, we know about C. |
| 66 (65) | Chris Bassitt | Blue Jays | 8 innings of 4-hit ball with 7 Ks is the good news. The bad? It was against the A’ss. |
| 67 (66) | Clarke Schmidt | Yankees | 4-6 weeks on IL means holding in keeper leagues only. |
| 68 (55) | Nestor Cortes | Yankees | Probably too big of a drop, but he keeps giving up HR (5 in last 3 GS), and hasn’t pitched 6+ innings since mid-May. |
| 69 (81) | Jon Gray | Rangers | Relieved Heaney in a “toe in the water” kind of outing after being activated from IL. Rejoins the rotation this week but gets LAD as a welcome-back present. |
| 70 | Charlie Morton | Braves | 6 shutout innings on June 2 with 5 BB. 5 innings with 0 BB but 4 ER on June 8. It’s like a roulette wheel here. |
| 71 (61) | Kutter Crawford | Red Sox | The dreaded “pushed back for extra rest” means he gets Philly at home this week. Sit him until he gets things sorted out. |
| 72 (69) | Reese Olson | Tigers | Imploded against MLW for 12 H and 8 ER in 4 IP. 1-7 on the year. It’s a race with some others for the bottom spot here. |
| 73 (NR) | Matt Waldron | Padres | Last week I wrote that 25 strikeouts in his last 17.2 IP is a good way to get noticed for a Top 100 Starting Pitchers list. He feels like this position works for now. |
| 74 (73) | Jordan Hicks | Giants | 3.2 IP, 2 ER, ERA at 2.82. More Aaron Hicks than Michael Jordan, that’s for sure. |
| 75 (86) | Hunter Brown | Astros | 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 7 Ks moves him back up. He did walk 4, though. |
| 76 (68) | Jordan Montgomery | Diamondbacks | 2 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 6.41. Queued up to drop him in TGFBI last night. What a freakin’ free-fall. |
| 77 | Alec Marsh | Royals | The strikeouts are still there, but so are the ERs. |
| 78 | Brandon Pfaadt | Diamondbacks | Carbon copy of above. |
| 79 (72) | Triston McKenzie | Guardians | 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 Ks. Now 8 HR allowed in his last 3 starts. |
| 80 (89) | Kyle Gibson | Cardinals | Ok, so I really don’t like this guy. But MarmosDad is a man of the people. 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 Ks, ERA at 3.69 is pretty good. I’ll try to ignore the 2.23 K-BB% (8th worst in the league). |
| 81 (76) | Yu Darvish | Padres | Due back from IL on June 14th. |
| 82 | Justin Steele | Cubs | Another underwhelming start. |
| 83 (85) | Zack Littell | Rays | 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB in each of his last three starts kind of sums up his season. |
| 84 (NR) | Ben Brown | Cubs | Last week, I wrote this in the “Who ‘Dis?” section. “Brown should probably have made our list this week. 7 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 10 Ks is a line that puts a lot of others here to shame. 15th on our 7-day Player Rater.” |
| 85 (71) | Braxton Garrett | Marlins | 2.2 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.81. Whenever I add him to this list again, it’s like he doesn’t want to be here. |
| 86 (95) | Jose Soriano | Angels | I mean, we know he’s supposed to be bad. But worse than Luis Severino? Come…….on. |
| 87 (97) | Luis Severino | Mets | A good bounce-back last week. 8 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks. But if you read the Gibson note, can you guess where Severino’s K-BB% is ranked? (He’s at 2.15. Just ‘above’ Gibson on the poop emoji list). |
| 88 (64) | Robert Gasser | Brewers | When you are seeking a third opinion on a pitching arm injury…well, that’s not a good thing no matter what the third guy has to say. |
| 89 (74) | Marcus Stroman | Yankees | To be fair, this is a better spot than where I had planned to put him (on the OOF list). A 5-2 record is nice, but the 6.93 strikeout rate is a little barfy. Emphasis on little…I mean barfy. |
| 90 (75) | Trevor Williams | Nationals | Hits the IL with a flexor strain. Not great news for a guy who was having a nice little breakout. I guess it saves him from the incoming regression dairies (it autocorrected on my phone, so I left it). Moo. |
| 91 (83) | Ryan Weathers | Marlins | Left index finger injury puts him out for a few weeks. |
| 92 (91) | Taj Bradley | Rays | 5 IP, 3H, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 7 Ks. A much-needed solid start after a 9 ER implosion last week. |
| 93 (94) | Erick Fedde | White Sox | 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks. Dinnertime? The ChiSox are…Well-Fedde…at Cubs. |
| 94 (93) | Dean Kremer | Orioles | Said last week that he should return this week..and he didn’t. Will still need a rehab start or two to work through triceps recovery. |
| 95(87) | Bailey Falter | Pirates | 4 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 3.69. OK, so maybe I shouldn’t have thrown him into that open spot a couple of weeks ago. |
| 96 | Albert Suarez | Orioles | Three good starts now since being re-inserted into rotation. Building up stamina. |
| 97 (NR) | Frankie Montas | Reds | 6th on the last 7-day Player Rater for SP. |
| 98 | Jameson Taillon | Cubs | 5 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks. Take a good look at him now because we may not see him next week…or for a few weeks after that. |
| 99 | Andrew Abbott | Reds | An OK start last week, but that nasty 2.59 K-BB% is the 21st worst among SPs. Ugly. |
| 100 | Dane Dunning | Rangers | 2 HR allowed to DET. 4Ks in 5 IP. Holding here for now. |
BIGGEST DUMPERS: With apologies to Cal Raleigh, these are some of the biggest dumpers (in value, not pants size).
Pablo Lopez 10 (8) – Not so much a big dumper as a guy I wanted to write up. More like Pabl-Oh-No-Pez. Speaking of Pez, I was nodding my head as vigorously as the candy dispenser of a kid with ADHD when I read Grey’s Friday assessment that Pablo is “…as useful as a third nipple until he shows signs of life.” A quick check-in on our Math skills, if you will. Which of these things is not like the other? 7, 1, 6, 7. Yes, those are the earned run totals over his last 4 starts. Ouch.
Seth Lugo 20 (14) – 6 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 2.13. That ERA is the only thing keeping him afloat here, and I think the regression fairies are coming like swarms of cicadas on a warm summer Georgia night. Seth coughed up a loogie (not LOOGY) in his last start, and the lack of strikeouts still stands out. I would be shopping him based on his strong start and good ratios sooner rather than later.
Jesus Luzardo 40 (29) – 4.1 IP, 9 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks, ERA at 5.30. A bit of real-life dialogue for you. Recorded while I drove back home from my eldest son’s game while I was scrolling through the box scores on Tuesday night.
MarmosDad – “Jesus! What the *&^%! Was he tipping his pitches?!”
MarmosKid – “Dad? Why are you driving with your knees? And I don’t think Jesus was a pitcher.”
Follow up: I believe Jesus was a closer because Jesus…nope, too easy.
Cristian Javier NR (88) – Will undergo Tommy John surgery. There’ll be no rebirth for this Cristian for at least 14 months.
BIGGEST JUMPERS: Who’s got hops? These are some of the biggest jumpers in value this week.
Kevin Gausman 6 (9) – Like the Lopez blurb above, this one is kind of a cheat. He’s not really a big jumper, but I felt the need to highlight how bonkers it’s been for our Canadian Goose. There’s a buddy back home who will get a kick out of the next sentence. I’ve waited for far too long for Gausman’s ascension to acknowledge any kind of impending downfall. But it’s frustrating to see two entirely different pitchers in the same body (almost) every other start. The tale of his last two games kind of sums up his season so far – June 3rd: 6 IP, 6 ER, 3 HR 3 K … June 8: CG SO 5 H 10 K. It’s a good thing we’re almost into summer because this guy is the definition of flip-flops.
Carlos Rodon 30 (51) – So this is very much overdue. I nearly made Rodon my lede this week, but the sting from losing him (at $1) in an AL-only home league when he jumped to San Francisco is still lingering. When he flopped in New York last year? Ya, that was a bit of confirmation bias. But don’t look now if you’re a Rodon hater. He’s won 6 games in a row, is nearly at a strikeout per inning (71:73), and has posted some very respectable ratios. When a guy is rolling along with a 3.08 ERA, 1.082 WHIP, and a .217 BAA into the second week of June, I think it’s safe to say he’s returning to that 2021/2022 breakout form.
Luis Gil 23 (27) – I could write a bunch here, but I think Grey’s blurb from last week was spot on. “Luis Gil 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 3 walks, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.82. I’m going to bawl like a little baby when he’s shut down due to his innings, because he is saving some of my teams.” The only thing that I can’t agree with there is the ‘saving my teams’ bit, as I have zero shares. Gil has been a legitimate diamond in the rough in that Bronx rotation. If you rostered him out of spring training, you either got lucky with a last-round dart throw or $1 flier…or you’re a witch.
Jack Flaherty 25 (47) – Ya, ya, ya. What?! Still not high enough for you? His K/9 is at 11.2 and his BB/9 is 1.2. He’s moved up nearly 50 spots in the last two weeks. Do you want me to put him in the Top 5?! Well, to be honest, if we took away the names and just looked at the K/9 league leaders even that doesn’t sound so silly. Despite the sore back, he “expects to make his next start” Tuesday.
Hunter Greene 37 (43) – The pitch count totals are crazy high (see above), so that means he gets pushed back to Friday at MLW for extra rest this week. I offered him to Grey in ‘Perts a couple of weeks ago for Jo Adell, hoping that maybe he would see the last name and think it was Riley. Hunter is still racking up the Ks (coincidentally, so is Jo Adell).
Nick Pivetta 42 (56) – Here’s another one who was too low. A 10.84 K/9 and 1.91 BB/9 are pretty good indicators that Pivetta is enjoying a solid season in the rotation. But that 2.96 xFIP is an even bigger indication that he should be able to sustain these gains. On a side note, how are the Red Sox a game below .500 with Houck and Pivetta throwing so well?… (he asks before peeking in at the train wreck that is Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford).
OOF!
The following players dropped off the list this week.
Cristian Javier (out for the season)
Aaron Civale
Kyle Harrison
WHEE!
The following players jumped onto the list this week.
Matt Waldron
Ben Brown
Frankie Montas
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, I’ll post the Top 100 Starting Pitchers with some write-ups on some of the arms that I think need a bit more attention than others and keep cherry-picking names to highlight throughout the list as we progress through the season.
Drop some comments in the chat if you’re feeling extra fired up about some of the names I do (or don’t) have here. Have a great week!
Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social
